Buncombe County, NC Environmental Rules: Erosion Control (2026)

Under Sec. 26-211(a), no one may start a land-disturbing activity anywhere in unincorporated Buncombe County without first filing an erosion control plan and obtaining a land-disturbing permit. The one-acre trigger drops sharply on steep residential lots: any residential land-disturbing activity that uncovers a quarter acre or more on a lot with an average natural slope of 25 percent or greater also needs a plan and permit under Sec. 26-211(a)(3), cross-referenced to the subdivision hillside standards at Sec. 70-68, and a half-acre threshold applies on 15-to-25-percent slopes under Sec.

26-211(c). To apply, Sec. 26-226(b) requires a completed application, a signed erosion control plan checklist, the plan review fee, two copies of an approved erosion control plan, and, where a stormwater permit is also required, a copy of that approved stormwater plan. Plan review fees double if land disturbance begins before the permit issues, though an applicant gets two free plan reviews before a resubmittal is treated as a brand-new application under Sec. 26-226(d). The county and the county soil and water conservation district each review a submitted plan, generally within 20 days, under Sec.

26-228(c) and (d), and a disapproved or modified plan can be appealed first to a local plan review committee and, if that fails, to the state sedimentation control commission under Sec. 26-229. The land-disturbing permit must be displayed on site until the project is stabilized, under Sec. 26-226(e), and permits expire if work hasn't started within six months, or five years after work begins, under Sec. 26-227(b). Farming, grazing, forestry conducted under state best-management practices, and mining-act activity are excluded from the article entirely under Sec. 26-210(b).